Turntable element for toy building sets



Feb. 22, 1966 G. K. CHRISTIANSEN 3,

TURNTABLE ELEMENT FOR TOY BUILDING SETS Filed Jan. 23, 1964 l 20 2 Fig. 6

3O INVENTOR.

GocH-s recl K. Chn sfIQnSen ihm lTTaYNEYs United States Patent T TURNTABLE ELEMENT FOR TOY BUILDING SETS Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, Billund, Denmark, assignor to Interlego A.G. Alpenstrasse, Zug, Switzerland Filed Jan. 23, 1964, Ser. No. 339,646 Claims priority, application Denmark, Feb. 5, 1963, 534/63 6 Claims. (CI. 4623) This invention generally relates to toy building sets comprising a plurality of hollow box shaped elements provided with engagement studs or projections of the kind specified in US. Patent No. 3,005,282, and more particularly to an element designed to provide for a rotatable connection between adjacent structures built up of such toy building elements. The rotatable element according to the present invention will henceforward be referred to as a turntable.

One object of the invention is to provide a turntable element, which is suitable for mass production by injection moulding of thermoplastic or thermosetting materials.

Another object is to provide a turntable element comprising a pair of interrotatable discs assembled by means of a locking member of simple and inexpensive construetion and wherein the two discs are provided with coupling means for connecting the turntable to adjacent elements in a toy building set of the kind referred to.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the following descrption of an embodiment of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an axial sect-ion through a turntable according to the invention, comprising an upper disc, a lower disc, and a locking member for interlocking the two discs;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the top surface of the upper disc;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the underface of the upper disc;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the upper surface of the lower disc;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the underface of the lower disc; and

FIG. 6 is an axial section similar to FIG. 1 of a modified embodiment of the turntable.

Referring to the drawings, the turntable according to the invention comprises a pair of cylindrical discs 10 and arranged co-axially, one on top of the other and a locking member for rotatably interlocking the two discs.

The upper disc 10 comprises a plurality of engagement studs 12 disposed symmetrically with respect to a pair of diameters (not shown) intersecting one another at an angle of 90 and adapted to engage a pair of adjacent building elements A and B, as illustrated by broken lines in FIG. 2.

The underface of the upper element 10 is provided with a plurality of co-axiaily arranged annular flanges, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. One flange 16 is arranged at the circumference of the disc 10 and extends downwardly therefrom. This flange 16 is a guiding flange, the function of which will be explained in the following. Another flange or annular rib 14 having a plane underface 15 is arranged for providing a sliding face for slideable contact with a similar annular face on the lower disc. Finally, a pair of flanges 17 and 18 are arranged so as to define an annular groove or slot 111 between them adapted to receive a cylindrical coupling flange on the locking member. The groove 11 is provided with a 3,236,004 Patented Feb. 22, 1966 radially extending recess 13 adapted to receive an annular bead on the said coupling flange.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 4 and 5, the lower disc 20 comprises at its upper face an annular flange or rib 23 located at a distance from the circumference of the disc which is substantially equal to the thickness of the guiding flange 16 of the upper disc. Thus, the convex cylindrical surface of the rib 23 will slidably engage the inner convex cylindrical face of the flange 16, thereby providing a guide which will prevent radial displacements of the discs 10 and 20. The upper face of the lower disc 20 further comprises an annular flange or rib having a plane annular face 25 adapted to abut the sliding face 15 of the rib 14, so as to provide for a slideable contact between the two discs when one of them is rotated relatively to the other. The lower disc 20 is 'further provided with a central, cylindrical aperture 28 having vertical side walls 26 adapted to receive the locking member 30 as hereinafter described. The flange 25 of the lower disc is provided with an annular projection ex tending radially into the aperture 28 so as to form an annular collar 24.

The two discs 10 and 20 are assembled by inserting the locking member or connector 30 through the central aperture in the disc 20. This connector 30 is provided with a cylindrical sleeve or coupling flange 31 adapted to be received within the annular groove 11 formed between the flanges 17 and 18 at the under-face of the disc 10. An annular bead 33 on the coupling flange 31 corresponding to the annular recess 13 in the groove 11 will provide for an eflicient interlocking of the locking member 30 and the upper disc 10. In the position shown in FIG. 1, a radially extending locking flange 32 having peripheral surface 34 of the member 30 will engage the lower annular face of the collar 24, thereby preventing axial displacement of the disc 10 relatively to the disc 20. It should be observed that the relative dimensions of the two discs and the locking member are such that the abutting horizontal surfaces 15, 25, convex surface 16, 23, horizontal surfaces 32, 24 and vertical surfaces 26, 34 will permit a slideable con-tact between the two discs, thus enabling them to rotate freely relatively to one another while preventing both axial and radial displacements.

Referring to FIG. 5, it will be observed that the bottom face of the lower disc 20 comprises a circumferential downwardly projecting annular flange 29 and a coaxially disposed annular flange or rib 21. These flanges are connected by four radially extending ribs 27 defining four cavities 22 in the bottom face of the lower disc 20. These cavities 22, which are of identical part-circular shape, are arranged symmetrically and their width is substantially equal to the diameter of the engagement studs 12a of adjacent building elements similar to the ele ments A and B of FIG. 2. Furthermore, the wall of the flange 29 is provided with cuttings 29a for permitting the studs 12a of adjacent elements to be coupled to the bottom face of the disc 20 by engagement with the cuttings 29a, the walls of the cavities 22 and the cylindrical wall of the aperture 28.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 the upper disc is provided with a central bore 41, and the lock-ing member is provided with a similar bore 42 so as to enable a spindle 40 to be rotatably mounted in the turntable. The spindle is journalled within the turntable by means of a bushing 45 frictionally mounted on the spindle 40 and rotatably disposed within the cavity formed by recess 43 in the upper disc 10 and a similar recess 44 within the locking member 30.

What is claimed is:

1. A turntable element for toy building sets comprising a pair of cylindrical discs arranged coaxially one on top of the other, the underface of the upper disc and the upper face of the lower disc being provided with annular sliding faces, an annular groove in the underface of said upper disc, a central cylindrical aperture in the lower disc, an annular projectionyon said lower disc extending radially into said aperture and defining an annular contact face at the underside of said projection, a locking means comprising a member with a radially extending locking flange and an axially extending annular flange adapted to be clamped into the annular groove of the upper disc by insertion of the locking member through the central aperture in the lower disc, whereby to interlock the two discs with the locking flange slidably engaging the annular contact face of the said projection and with the annular sliding faces of the two discs slidably contacting one another.

2. A turntable element for toy building sets compris- (a) an upper disc comprising a substantially plane top face provided with a plurality of assembly studs symmetrically disposed relatively to the axis of the disc, and a bottom face provided with coaxially disposed flanges, one of said flanges having an annular plane bottom face providing a sliding face adapted to abut a similar face at the top face of an adjacent disc, the bottom face of said upper disc being further provided with an annular groove;

(b) a lower disc comprising a top face having a cylindrical contact flange with an annular top face providing a sliding face adapted to abut the corresponding sliding face of the flange on the upper disc, a central cylindrical aperture in the bottom of said lower disc defining a radially extending collar at the innermost side of said contact flange adjacent the sliding face thereof;

(c) a locking device comprising a cylindrical member provided with a radially extending locking disc and an axially extending locking flange means adapted to be clamped into the annular groove in the bottom face of the upper disc, so as to interlock the upper and lower discs with the collar of the contact flange of the lower disc slideably interposed between the annular bottom face of the flange of the upper disc and the top face of the radially extending locking disc of the locking member.

3. A turntable element, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper disc is provided with a downwardly extending annular guiding flange having a concave cylindrical face along the circumference of said disc, and wherein the upper face of the lower disc is provided with an upwardly extending annular guiding rib having a convex cylindrical face arranged so as to slideably engage the said guiding flange of the upper disc with the convex cylindrical face of the rib contacting the concave cylindrical face of the flange.

4. A turntable element, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the annular flange of the locking member is provided with a radially extending annular projection, and wherein the annular goove in the upper disc is provided with a radially extending annular recess adapted to engage said annular projection on the flange of the locking member.

5. A turntable element, as .clairned in claim 1, wherein the locking member and the upper disc are each provided with a central bore adapted to receive a spindle and are also provided with coaxially arranged recesses adapted to receive a bushing on said spindle.

6. A turntable element, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom face of the lower disc is provided with a pair of coaxially disposed annular ribs and a plurality of radially extending ri-bs interconnecting said annular ribs so as to define a plurality of part-circular cavities adapted to receive and engage a plurality of engagement studs of adjacent elements to be connected with the lower disc of the turntable.

No references cited.

RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

F. BARRY SHAY, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A TURNTABLE ELEMENT FOR TOY BUILDING SETS COMPRISING A PAIR OF CYLINDRICAL DISCS ARRANGED COAXIALLY ONE ON TOP OF THE OTHER, THE UNDERFACE OF THE UPPER DISC AND THE UPPER FACE OF THE LOWER DISC BEING PROVIDED WITH ANNULAR SLIDING FACES, AN ANNULAR GROOVE IN THE UNDERFACE OF SAID UPPER DISC, A CENTRAL CYLINDRICAL APERTURE IN THE LOWER DISC, AN ANNULAR PROJECTION ON SAID LOWER DISC EXTENDING RADIALLY INTO SAID APERTURE AND DEFINING AN ANNULAR CONTACT FACE AT THE UNDERSIDE OF SAID PROJECTION, A LOCKING MEANS COMPRISING A MEMBER WITH A RADIALLY EXTENDING LOCKING FLANGE AND AN AXIALLY EXTENDING ANNULAR FLANGE ADAPTED 